Out of the 4th Trimester or so they tell me
Darcy turned 3 months two days ago and I'm okay with it... for the most part. It feel like it's been a few weeks, maybe a month but I'm starting to accept that time will just go faster for the second. I can barely imagine having another at this time but since both my husband & I are one of three I think that had been the original plan. Right now we're feeling insanely blessed to have a healthy girl & boy and insanely too tired to fathom why people have more kids.
And getting back to the title of this post... is how freaking long it takes (at least for me) to feel normal and functional and good again. I got two automated email newsletters this week "congratulating" me on being out of the "fourth Trimester" as they call it. It makes me feel like I should be back to my old self, have stuff figured out and I don't. I so don't. As you can see, I just finally did her birth announcement today. That is literally a picture from her three month bday.
I'm not even close to having anything together at home. Every day is a new day, where I'm almost starting from scratch, which I guess I should sometimes view as a good thing. It's less Darcy, she's such a good baby. What I think she misses from me I'm hopeful she makes up for my "experience" of knowing what babies need or how they progress, or at least where to go to learn. She stays awake 1-2 hours after she wakes. She eats typically ever three. She needs to work on nighttime sleep but it's SO nice to have both kids in bed by 7p or more like 8 for JWS but we still have good nights here and there.
My husband also reminded me this past weekend that most people at this point would be returning to work. My job before Jack was at a Marketing/Ad Agency of juts less than 50 people so they didn't have to abide by FMLA. Technically, it was 6 weeks leave for a natural birth but that was the upside of being a small company and my boss, one of the owners and I had a good relationship so I ended up freelancing for them for a few months. More on that later BUT getting back to this 12 week thing. It's insane and way too short, particularly for your first but now that I'm on the other side I almost see it! I've been wanting to go back. I want to get showered and dressed every morning and have real conversations with educated adults. I honestly think I need it. I don't need it 5 days/week from for 10 hours a day so I'm still incredibly grateful to be home BUT I need it. One of my amazing sisters, who is an incredible working mom who makes it all look so much easier than it is, connected me with a friend who needs a photographer for a non-profit event next week. I'm excited and nervous to do it but happy to be "getting back out there."
